Two doctors from Mumbai are set to receive Pakistan’s highest civilian honour for a decision they made nearly eight decades ago that was kept away from the public eye. Dr Jal Ratanji Patel and Dr Jal Dhaybho-Koo, both members of Mumbai’s Parsi community, have been nominated for the Nishan-e-Imtiaz for maintaining the confidentiality of Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s serious health condition during the politically sensitive period preceding Partition. This comes decades after the two doctors examined Jinnah in 1946. Their medical assessment reportedly found that his tuberculosis had reached an advanced stage and that he might have had only a year or two to live.
